** U.S. group Comcast stepped up its push to buy European pay-TV group Sky, seeking regulatory and political approval even as it manoeuvres for a broader deal with bid rival, Rupert Murdoch's Fox.

** Shares of Twenty-First Century Fox Inc rose as much as 3.4 percent after Reuters reported that cable operator Comcast Corp was preparing an all-cash bid to rival a deal agreed late last year with Walt Disney Co.

** Walmart is likely to announce its much-anticipated deal to buy a controlling stake in Indian e-commerce player Flipkart before the end of this week, two sources said, in what is likely to be the U.S. retail giant's biggest acquisition of a business.

** In its final push, the U.S. Justice Department has urged a federal judge to stop AT&T Inc, which owns biggest pay TV provider DirecTV, from buying movie and TV show maker Time Warner Inc, or at least cut a big chunk out of the proposed $85 billion transaction.

** Carl Icahn and Darwin Deason, shareholders in Xerox Corp who oppose an agreed deal with Fujifilm Holdings , said they would consider an all-cash bid of at least $40 per share - a 43 percent premium to the Japanese firm's offer.

** Royal Dutch Shell Plc's Shell Gas B.V. unit said it was selling its entire stake in Canadian Natural Resources Ltd for $3.3 billion.

** South Korea's largest telecom firm, SK Telecom Co Ltd , said it and a partner had decided to wholly buy domestic security systems company ADT Caps for about 1.28 trillion won ($1.2 billion).

** Freeport-McMoRan Inc's divestment of a controlling interest in Indonesia's Grasberg mine is still planned for 2018, even though the price and some contract terms are still to be agreed, the head of state mining holding company PT Inalum said.

** Nevsun Resources said its board of directors had unanimously rejected a non-binding, unsolicited takeover proposal from Lundin Mining Corp and Euro Sun Mining , saying it was too low and had a "problematic structure".

** Nevsun Resources' second-biggest shareholder said it is "positively inclined" to an unsolicited C$1.5 billion ($1.16 billion) takeover proposal for the Canadian copper-zinc miner

** Canadian landlord NorthWest Healthcare Properties REIT announced a $312 million strategic investment in Australian hospital operator Healthscope as part of a plan to buy its real estate amid a private equity takeover bid for the firm.

** Capital One Financial Corp said it sold around $17 billion of first- and second-lien mortgages to DLJ Mortgage, a unit of Credit Suisse.

** Walmart Inc's online grocery delivery partnerships with ride-hailing services Uber and Lyft have ended, according to two sources, a potential setback for the retailer's ambitions to challenge Amazon.com Inc head-on with speedy delivery of groceries to people's homes.

** Israel's Avgol Industries said its shareholders HFH International and Leumi Partners are negotiating the sale of their majority stake in the non-woven fabrics producer.

** British entrepreneur Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin business empire, is reviewing a 1.6 billion pounds ($2.2 billion) takeover bid that could turn the fledgling lender he founded almost 25 years ago into one of Britain's biggest banks.

** Cohu Inc will buy rival Xcerra Corp XCRA.O for about $796 million, the semiconductor testing company said on Tuesday, two months after a U.S. security panel blocked Xcerra's sale to a Chinese state-backed fund.

** U.S. private equity firm Apollo Global Management has dropped plans to make a takeover bid for British bus and rail operator FirstGroup, after having two approaches turned down.

** British regulators have launched an in-depth investigation into the tie-up between the retail power unit of SSE Plc and Npower, owned by Germany's Innogy, saying it may reduce competition and increase prices for some households.

** Cohu Inc will buy rival Xcerra Corp for about $796 million, the semiconductor testing company said, two months after a U.S. security panel blocked Xcerra's sale to a Chinese state-backed fund.

** Pencil maker Dixon Ticonderoga, which is owned by Italian group Fila, agreed to buy U.S.-based school art and craft products supplier Pacon Group for $340 million.

** Germany's Uniper denied trying to undermine a deal that will make Finnish utility Fortum its top investor, and said it had been open and transparent during the process.

** Norwegian Air could potentially be sold to IAG or another bidder if the price was right, but offers made so far have been too low, the budget carrier's top office holders said.

** Brazilian development bank BNDES is in talks with four companies interested in acquiring the operation of Viracopos airport, the bank's chief executive officer said.

** Slovenian household appliances maker Gorenje has received three binding takeover bids, all from Asian firms, the company said in a statement.

** British bank CYBG would have to hike its bid for rival lender Virgin Money significantly if investors are going to consider a deal, a top ten investor in the takeover target told. (Compiled by Nivedita Balu and Mrinalini Krothapalli in Bengaluru)